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Direct trade coffee: how Washington roasters buy their beans

Direct trade has no single rulebook, so we looked at what each roaster we list says it actually does.

Quick answer: what is direct trade coffee?

Direct trade coffee is coffee a roaster buys through a relationship it builds with the farmer or producer, usually at a price above what certification requires. Wikipedia's article stresses that there is no single set of direct trade standards and no third party checking them, so the term means what the roaster makes it mean. The useful question is what a roaster says it pays and whom it buys from, and several Washington roasters publish that.

Direct trade, Fair Trade and importers

ApproachWhat it meansWho checks it
Direct tradeThe roaster deals with the farm or co-op itself. Advocates describe paying higher premiums than Fair Trade, tied to quality.No one outside the roaster; Wikipedia notes this is a frequent criticism
Fair Trade certifiedProducers and traders meet Fairtrade standards, which guarantee a minimum price.A certifier; importers register and pay a fee
Through an importerA specialist firm buys and ships the green coffee. The roaster can still return to the same farms each year.Depends on the importer and the roaster

Wikipedia's direct trade article also cites a 2011 study that found fair trade did more for farm infrastructure, while direct trade models did more for farmers' wages and quality of life, as the farmers themselves reported. Neither label settles the question on its own.

Washington roasters that buy direct from farms

  • Olympia Coffee Roasting started direct trade projects in Central and South America in 2009 and added Burundi and Kenya in 2013. It now says it buys directly from farmers in nine countries, started a Fair for All program with a published transparency report in 2018, and became a Certified B Corporation the same year.
  • Zoka Coffee calls its approach Family Direct Trade: it buys many single origins directly, visits the farms and often works with the same growers year after year.
  • Caffe Vita's founder Mike McConnell was an early advocate of buying straight from farmers, which the company calls Farm Direct. Wikipedia describes it as bypassing the fair trade system.
  • Herkimer Coffee says it buys green coffee directly from small farms and pays prices meant to keep them viable over the long term.
  • Kuma Coffee buys directly whenever it can and aims to pay about three times Fair Trade prices. For one recent Colombian harvest it reports an average of $3.54 a pound FOB, the price at the point of export, and it often buys a farmer's whole crop. It says Ethiopia is the one core origin it does not buy direct, because traceability there is hard to establish.

Roasters that buy through importers, and say what they pay

Buying through an importer does not rule out long relationships. Several roasters we list describe both.

  • Victrola works through importer partners but has bought from Luis Alberto Balladerez in Nueva Segovia, Nicaragua for close to ten years, and has bought the entire harvest of Denis Teruel's Finca las Brisas in Honduras since 2014. It says it pays above the Fair Trade minimum even for coffees that are not certified.
  • Elm Coffee Roasters names its importers, among them Covoya, Cafe Imports, Atlas, Crop to Cup and Shared Source. It says it pays well above Fair Trade minimums, often four to five times, and rarely buys certified coffee because certification costs too much for many small producers.
  • Fulcrum buys on multi-year contracts under which farmers keep more than 80 percent of the final purchase price. Coffee farmer Blas Alfaro is a co-owner, and it has sourced through Atlas Coffee Importers for more than 20 years.
  • Fidalgo buys the whole harvest of Finca Alta Mira in Honduras, roughly 8,000 to 10,000 pounds a year. The farm is run by Tierra Nueva, a nonprofit that also works in Skagit County.
  • Boon Boona buys only African coffee, from producers, cooperatives, exporters and importers in Ethiopia, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya and elsewhere, and says it gives priority to women-owned growers.

Roasters that publish the numbers

A transparency report is the closest thing direct trade has to an outside check: the roaster prints what it paid. Two Washington roasters we list publish one. Olympia Coffee has published transparency reports since 2018 under its Fair for All program. Bluebeard in Tacoma publishes an annual green coffee and employment report showing what it pays farmers and its own staff, with reports posted for 2024 and 2025.

Certification still has a place. Dillanos in Sumner sells organic, Fair Trade single origins from Colombia, Peru, Ethiopia and Guatemala; in November 2024 it announced a merger with Dancing Goats Coffee, which Kaldi's Coffee of St. Louis had bought in 2023. Indaba in Spokane sells an organic, Fair Trade water process decaf and a Fair Trade organic Mexico.

How to read a bag

  1. Look for a named farm, producer or co-op. A name is something you can follow up on.
  2. Look for a price or a ratio. "About three times Fair Trade" or "farmers keep more than 80 percent" says more than "ethically sourced."
  3. Look for a report. A published transparency report lets you check the claim.
  4. Do not dismiss an importer. Victrola, Elm and Fulcrum all buy through importers and still describe years-long relationships with growers.

Direct trade coffee: questions

Is direct trade better than Fair Trade?

Not automatically. Direct trade has no shared standard or outside auditor, while Fair Trade is certified. A 2011 study cited by Wikipedia found each model helped farmers in different ways.

Which Washington roasters publish what they pay farmers?

Olympia Coffee Roasting and Bluebeard Coffee Roasters both publish transparency reports. Kuma Coffee has published an average price it paid for one Colombian harvest.

Why do some good roasters not sell Fair Trade coffee?

Elm Coffee Roasters says certification is too costly for many small producers, so it rarely buys certified lots and pays well above Fair Trade minimums instead.

Knowing who roasted it

A listing does not mean a roaster is part of the club. Knowing where a coffee came from starts with knowing who roasted it. Palouse Coffee Club sends a 12 oz bag from a different independent Washington roaster each box, every 2 or 4 weeks, in the roaster's own bag with a packing slip that names the roaster. $16.99 a bag; first bag free, you pay $7.99 shipping. Skip or cancel anytime. Build your box, see how we choose roasters, or read Washington roasters by the numbers.

Sources

By Joe McRose, Palouse Coffee Club. Updated . Definitions from Wikipedia's direct trade and fair-trade coffee articles; each roaster's buying practices from its own pages, as recorded in our roaster data on September 27, 2026.